Christian Madera
Christian Madera was managing editor of Planetizen from 2006 to 2008.
Contributed 1912 posts
Christian Madera was managing editor of Planetizen from 2006 to 2008. He currently lives and works in Hong Kong.
Christian has written about urban planning, policy and technology issues for the Los Angeles Times, Planning Magazine, The Southern Sierran, and Next City Magazine, where he was a 2010 Urban Leaders Fellow. His past experience includes working as a community planner and the web and new media manager for the National Capital Planning Commission in Washington, DC, as well as a policy analyst for a non-profit housing developer in Los Angeles.
Prior to joining Planetizen, Christian worked as a program manager for the China Planning and Development Institute in Shanghai and Beijing. Christian also spent three years as a web developer at Urban Insight, the internet consulting firm that supports Planetizen, and contributed significantly to the development of Planetizen from 2000-2003. He has interned and consulted with a number of governments and non-profit organizations, including the Port Authority of NY/NJ, the Rockefeller Foundation, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), NYU Rudin Center for Transportation Policy, New Jersey Future, the City of Newark, NJ, and the CUNY Building Performance Lab in New York City.
Christian holds a BS in urban planning and development from the University of Southern California's School of Policy Planning and Development, and an MPA from the Woodrow Wilson School of International and Public Affairs at Princeton University.
8 Years And $45 Million Later, Still Nothing
<p>Efforts to redevelop a blighted commercial plaza in South Los Angeles have proved fruitless -- angering residents who say the city has ignored them and allowed taxpayer money to be wasted. Questions remain about the developer's financial dealings.</p>
Transforming A Bus Stop Into A Community Space
<p>To build a sense of community and improve long neglected but heavily used bus stops, a community group in South Los Angeles has begun creating colorful outdoor living rooms to give residents a place to sit and chat.</p>
Rental Market Heating Up Due To Foreclosures
<p>Americans who've lost their homes to foreclosure are now looking to rent, tightening up already low vacancy rates and driving up prices. Meanwhile, foreclosed homes sit empty.</p>
Tycoon Plans Multi-Billion Dollar Home
<p>Nita and Mukesh Ambani are planning a $2 billion, 440,000 square foot, 27-story home for their family in Mumbai -- designed by architecture firms Perkins + Will and Hirsch Bedner Associates.</p>
U.S. DOT Joins the Blogosphere
<p>Transportation Secretary Mary Peters (or, more likely, her communications team) has taken up blogging, but the new PR outlet comes with a title that's not so friendly to all modes of transportation.</p>